B2B ads don’t require a big budget

Also: Be a copycat.

Reel Axis
January 30, 2026

Welcome back to Marketing Qualified! Here’s what we’re talking about this week:

You don’t need a big budget to make “creative” B2B ads.

Somewhere out there right now, a marketing team is spending $50K on one “premium” piece of content that looks generic and will get meh results.

What if you tried something weird instead?

Jess Cook did this. She found an online tool that lets you create videos that appear to break through the LinkedIn feed. It cost 40 bucks.

She made a video ad of her company’s mascot lounging in a pool with a unicorn floating across the frame. 👇

People lost their minds over it. She got a ton of messages and comments. Not about the product, but about the ad itself, like:

Some might argue that makes the ad a big fail.

But according to the stats, it’s actually the most successful awareness campaign they’ve ever run:

$40 and 1 hour to create what became their most memorable ad.

Doing something novel and creative can easily outperform big budgets.

🧠 What 75 SEO thought leaders reveal about volatility in the GEO debate.

🏆 X announces $1M prize for top article this month.

A lot of times in life, we try to do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. Especially in marketing.

But sometimes, the best path is just shamelessly copying what’s already working.

Noah Kagan copied Shopify’s checkout page almost exactly, and his company, AppSumo, saw an instant 13.01% conversion bump!

If everyone is doing something the same way, it might mean that way converts really well.

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